A 1500m ascent to the summit of Mt Bogong (1986m) provides excellent alpine views and a pretty decent workout!
Mt Bogong is Victoria’s highest mountain at 1986m of elevation, and is apparently Australia’s highest freestanding mountain. There’s no road to the top, so if you want to summit the mountain and see the excellent views you have to climb it from the bottom, a satisfying 1500m ascent along a well marked track up either the Staircase Spur or Eskdale Spur.
The initial section of the walk from Mountain Creek camping area passes through attractive tall forest. Once above the treeline there are extensive views over distant hills, and the alpine and sub-alpine scenery of the mountain itself is also very nice. This includes some fire damaged areas on Eskdale Spur that have their own interesting aesthetic. I found climbing Staircase Spur and descending via Eskdale Spur to be a worthwhile circuit, although the final few kilometres along the Mountain Creek Track (a vehicle trail) were a bit tiring at the end of a long hot day in mid summer.
Mt Bogong taken from a viewpoint on the road into Tawonga and Mt Beauty from the north-west.
Mt Bogong ascent: The Scenery
Lots of ferns on the fire trail out from the car park.
An interesting tree I’ve not seen before. I think we saw the same or a similar tree in Tasmania.
Silvery trees as we climbed higher towards the treeline.
The trees became stunted and grey-green as we climbed towards the treeline.
One of my favourite shots of the walk, looking out over many layers of hills from just above the treeline.
Another of my favourite shots from a little above the treeline. Eskdale Spur in the foreground.
Just above the treeline.
Looking over the return route along Eskdale Spur from our way up Staircase Spur.
Some of the wildflowers we encountered on the walk.
You can see the poled route up towards the summit.
A nice valley near the top of Staircase Spur, a very short deviation off the main track.
This view a very short deviation off the main track near the top of Staircase Spur.
The summit of Mt Bogong was flat and grassy, but the upper slopes were fairly rugged.
Sophia at the summit (1986m).
View from the summit.
Alpine flowers in the foreground that had already past their prime, but still created a nice aesthetic.
Fire damaged snow gums.
Looking down Eskdale Spur.
Looking out from part way down Eskdale Spur.
On Eskdale Spur.
Having lunch on Eskdale Spur.
On Eskdale Spur looking towards Staircase Spur.
I liked the skeletal form of these fire damaged trees.
Eskdale Spur
I walked a little off track to get this shot, keeping to rock as much as possible to avoid trampling fragile alpine plants.
Looking back up towards the summit from Eskdale Spur.
Fire damaged trees on Eskdale Spur.
I liked the colours of these trees against the green of the forest.
We met a couple of lizards like this and suspected they were pregnant. They certainly didn’t hurry away when approached.
Forest on the fire trail back to the start.
More fern action on the fire trail back to the start.
Mt Bogong and surrounds viewed from the road to Bright.
A place to eat in town
And as an aside, a colleague’s sister runs the restaurant Flour and Water in Tawonga/Mt Beauty (at least as at January 2019), and we very much enjoyed our two dinners there, particular after finishing this walk. The servings were so big that I felt I had conquered two mountains that day, one being a mountain of food.
Track Notes
The route is pretty straightforward, and can be seen in the below map, which was situated at the beginning of the ascent up Staircase Spur. There are also track notes on Trail Hiking Australia, and info on the Parks Victoria website.
We started at Mountain Creek camping area and followed the fire trail to Staircase Trailhead, took the Staircase to the summit, then returned via Eskdale Spur and Mountain Creek Tracks, but deviating onto the Fern Tree Walk for the last section back to the car park.
